P5 starting issues

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Protege 5
My '03 Protege5 is having starting issues. It no longer starts with a simple turn of the ignition switch when it has been sitting for a while. When it's warmed up, no problem. But when it has been sitting for several hours, I have to give it a boot with the gas to get it to start. When I do that, a lot of white smoke pours out of the exhaust - but it goes away after it warms up. It won't stay running unless I keep the revs up until it gets warmed up, and then I feel the idle stay above 900rpm consistently. It is also slow to return to idle speed at a stop light, and sometimes sputters down to just above stalling revs before catching itself and going back to normal idle speed. The CEL has been on for a while, but both the dealer and Autozone diagnose it as "Random Misfire", and it hasn't affected performance on the highway, as I'm still getting 33mpg. I have 263,000 miles on it, it is a manual transmission. The coils, spark plugs, spark plug wires, EGR valve, & throttle body have all been replaced recently, and the fuel pump cleaned. It passed a compression test with flying colors. I put in a can of SeaFoam semi-regularly. It uses a LOT of oil however - about a quart every 350 miles. Suggestions?
 
With that much oil use id check the plugs. Specifically after its been sitting overnight. Sounds like they might be fouled and it takes time to burn off. Easy to check and confirm and/or rule out
 
My '03 Protege5 is having starting issues. It no longer starts with a simple turn of the ignition switch when it has been sitting for a while. When it's warmed up, no problem. But when it has been sitting for several hours, I have to give it a boot with the gas to get it to start. When I do that, a lot of white smoke pours out of the exhaust - but it goes away after it warms up. It won't stay running unless I keep the revs up until it gets warmed up, and then I feel the idle stay above 900rpm consistently. It is also slow to return to idle speed at a stop light, and sometimes sputters down to just above stalling revs before catching itself and going back to normal idle speed. The CEL has been on for a while, but both the dealer and Autozone diagnose it as "Random Misfire", and it hasn't affected performance on the highway, as I'm still getting 33mpg. I have 263,000 miles on it, it is a manual transmission. The coils, spark plugs, spark plug wires, EGR valve, & throttle body have all been replaced recently, and the fuel pump cleaned. It passed a compression test with flying colors. I put in a can of SeaFoam semi-regularly. It uses a LOT of oil however - about a quart every 350 miles. Suggestions?

check your MAF. clean it, clean the grounds, and grab some intake cleaner or seafoam and spray that into a vacuum hose that leads into the intake manifold, that should help smooth out your idle. I remember I did this to an old 5 speed honda accord I had and the idle became much smoother, more power, better MPG, smoother sound.. it helps a lot with high mileage engines just make sure you don't spray into the MAF but past it.

as for your oil consumption issue, you need to use thicker and better quality oil. try some shell rotella 5w40, or any good synthetic (NOT mobil1) that's thicker. I recommend like 10w40, it will slow consumption.
 
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